Audio telephonic conferencing services are well known and several variations are commonly available for use by both residential and business users. One of the simplest versions is known as three-way calling, and allows the originator of a call to add on a third party to an existing call. This process is typically initiated by the user initiating a ‘hookflash’, which is a temporary depression of the “hook-switch” on a telephone. The hook-switch is the switch on a telephone that when depressed, terminates an active call. Conversely, when the hook switch is lifted (e.g., removing the receiver), dial-tone is provided. For telephone lines provisioned with three-way calling service, the temporary depression of the hook-switch while a call is active is interpreted by the telephone central office (CO) as a request for three-way calling. The CO places the active call on hold and provides dial-tone to the user. The user can dial the telephone number of the third party to be joined to the call. Once the third party has answered, the user can then invoke a second ‘hook-flash’ and conference in the third party into the call. For proper operation, the depression of the hook-flash switch must be of a minimum duration, but not too long. Many users find this operation difficult to use and either depress to hook too short (which may not be recognized by the CO, or too long, resulting in the call being terminated).
Another form of audio conferencing is six-way audio conferencing capability. This variation is also CO-based, and operates similar to three-way calling, but allows up to four additional parties to be joined to an active call. Again, many users find the control of the conference via the hook switch even more difficult given that more participants may be involved.
Because of the difficultly in operating this feature, various other conferencing services have been developed, such as the ‘meet-me’ conference. In this embodiment, a multi-port conference bridge is reserved and callers are given an access telephone number and a PIN. This allows callers to dial into the bridge, provide their PIN as authorization, after which they are then connected to the conference bridge. No depression of the switch hook is required.
Other versions of conference calling have been developed in which a conference bridge controller initiates calls to a set of previously indicated telephone numbers, and automatically bridges in the participants.
All such versions provide limited control to the leader of the conference call. The leader is common nomenclature for the person originating the conference call. In some current versions, the leader is given limited additional control over the call. For example, in the aforementioned three-way calling services, if the leader disconnects, the conference call is terminated. Further, the leader can terminate the last person added. In contrast, the participants typically have very little control or information over a conference call they are involved with.
Many individuals find existing conference calling services difficult to use, or limited in their functionality. Therefore, systems and methods are needed for enhancing the control of audio conference services.